IzPack Java Software Installer - homepage

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Overview

IzPack is an installers generator for the Java platform. It
produces lightweight installers that can be run on any operating system
where a Java virtual machine is available. Depending on the operating
system, it can be launched by a double-click or a simple 'java -jar
installer.jar' on a shell. The most common use is to distribute
applications for the Java platform, but you can also use it for other kinds
of projects. The main benefit of IzPack is that it provides a clean and
unique way of distributing a project to users using different operating
systems. IzPack is reported to run on :

Unix-like systems, mostly Linux and BSD

MacOS X

Windows variants

A big care has been put in making IzPack as small as possible in order
to reduce the weight of IzPack itself in the final installer archive. Also,
IzPack has been designed around modularity and flexibility. As a
consequence, you are able to specify how your installer should be by
selecting the panels that you want to show to the final user. Sometimes
there are even several panels for the same usage so that you can pick the
one that suits the best your needs. If ever you don't find your way through
the available panels, you can still develop your own ones with the nice and
easy IzPack API. There's even an embedded XML parser !

Main features

XML-based installer descriptors

Uses the maximum Jar archives compression level

Jakarta Ant integration

Great flexibility and modularity, it is very easy to extend
IzPack

No native code is required, but you can extend IzPack with native
code

Licensing issues

After having read all of this, you might ask: "Ok, if it's that
good, how much does it cost ?". The short answer is:
"nothing".

The long answer is: IzPack is an Open Source/Free Software
released under the terms of the Apache License 2.0. You can use it to distribute any
kind of project, but please remember that if you modify IzPack, you have
to respect the Apache License 2.0. Please also note that OpenSource/Free Software does
not mean that is has to be available for free. It is
downloadable for free because I have decided to do so.